Incorporating sustainability as a socio-scientific reality into science teacher education

School students often struggle to make the connection between school science and the real world. When students are provided with opportunities to see how scientific conceptual ideas are framed within socio-scientific issues that relate to their lives, such as climate change and sustainability, it is possible to illustrate how science is integral to their lives. This chapter critically considers the teaching of science concepts in everyday contexts to provide meaning and relevance to students’ learning. Two Australian case studies are outlined where pre-service teachers undertaking university science and technology teacher education worked with students in the primary school context. As part of this program sustainability was embedded into science education with an emphasis on the relevant socio-scientific reality of sustainability illustrating how students can be introduced to the notion of critical science agency in their everyday lives. Such agency can inform and empower students to think critically about these issues, share solutions and identify pathways for change in the future.